Mike: I hope you all have a fine weekend and that the Super Bowl is an entertaining game for us football fans. My prediction is Pittsburgh 31 – Arizona 27.

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- The following article details how the financial system can begin the purging of its corruption, greed, tax evasion and malfeasance by instituting enforceable regulation and a return to fair taxation. It is well worth the read if you are interested in how avoid a repeat of this current financial crises;

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* Are We Ready to Change the System?

“The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them…” Thomas Jefferson

It is time to begin serious, and significant, systemic reforms in the financial system.

– Maintaining the status quo will be fruitless because the system is broken. Trying to keep it from becoming ‘more broken’ is a nice short term fix, but we are beyond that now. This has been a long time in the works.

There has been a recent increase in noise from the Congress about changing a system which promotes excessive pay, and encourages the virtual looting of companies, by overpaid management and a corrupt financial system.

– Rather than strike at the branches, and call a few individuals up before Congress for their ten minutes of tut-tutting, how about some serious change that cuts to the roots of the crisis?

* An inside source at Novell just informed me that Novell laid off a considerable percentage of its workforce on Friday, suggesting that “basically an across-the-board reduction of 25 percent” had been made. The news came in too late to seek comment from Novell, but I will try to get an update over the weekend.

These Novell layoffs add to the mounting woes of the already enfeebled technology industry, which has seen tens of thousands of employees lose their jobs.

* The current round of job cuts by IBM Corp. extends to several other divisions, according to the Alliance@IBM, a workers’ group.

According to the group, the cuts include the finance unit, with 307 jobs gone; the human resources group, with 92 jobs; and IBM Research, 193 positions. The numbers are for the U.S., and none of them have large concentrations in Dutchess County’s two sites. However, many people who work for those divisions live in the mid-Hudson but work elsewhere, including in Westchester County.

* The carnage on Wall Street is continuing as Morgan Stanley plans to lay off about 2,000 employees, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The cuts will be in addition to the 5,400 layoffs at the New York-based investment bank in its 2008 fiscal year, which ended in November. It has laid off more than 10,000 people since the summer of 2007, affecting a range of employees from highly compensated bankers, traders and asset managers to less-well-rewarded staffers.

* NEW YORK (CNN) – Layoffs for sea lions? Furloughs for frogs? Is there no job security, anywhere?

State budget cuts mean New York’s 76 zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums will lose $9.1 million in funding.

The recession may be coming to a zoo near you. State budget cuts mean many zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens will lose crucial state funding for their exhibits. New York’s 76 zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens will lose $9.1 million in state funds next year.

“We’re faced with this very difficult problem of firing the animals, as it were,” said Steve Sanderson, the CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the Bronx Zoo and the New York Aquarium. They will lose $3 million to budget cuts.

Mike: The story below caught my eye because the headline was so obviously on target. I had to read it a few times and then Homer Simpson came to mind. I can see their next headline: “Rain in Fresno blamed on clouds!”

* Economy Blamed for Rising Unemployment in Fresno –

Hundreds turned out and stood in line for hours, hoping to get a job with the Fresno Grizzlies on Saturday at Chukchansi Park.

The jobs are for game day staff when the Grizzlies have a home game, but people say applying for the seasonal position was competitive and the crowd was massive.

People started lining up at 8:30 in the morning and by 10a.m. the line reached around the block.

There were nearly a thousand people hoping to get one of only 150 seasonal jobs with the Grizzlies.

“It definitely says a lot about how bad things are out there and how bad things are right now,” said Jose A. Perez II.

* What looked bad in December is looking much worse now, as Palo Alto’s projected budget deficit has ballooned from $2.6 million to $5.8 million.

Unfilled positions have been frozen and major projects such as a new police building will likely be delayed as the city tries to close the gap. Without such measures, the shortfall could rise to $8 million in 2010, according to an updated long-range forecast released Thursday.

* Clovis prides itself on careful planning and a high quality of life. But that manicured look has begun to erode as the declining economy has cut millions of dollars from city budgets.

The anti-gang and traffic-enforcement units have been disbanded. Police take longer to respond to nonemergency calls. Graffiti stays up longer. Recreation programs for children will largely disappear by summer. The Fire Department doesn’t have enough staff and can’t hire more.

* State Parks Director Ken Travous said Friday he laid off all seasonal parks workers – about 60 people in all — and suspended payments to local community groups for the state’s share of local projects.

He also has drawn up a list of eight parks the state can close — five immediately and three more in June — to be considered at a special meeting of the state parks board on Tuesday. The state operates 27 parks.

* Layoffs have infiltrated one of the area’s biggest employers – Elgin School District U46.

The cuts began in the administration building Thursday and spread through one high school in Elgin and a middle school in Streamwood Friday.

District administrators including Lalo Ponce, Tom Donausky, Deb Dimke and Tina Radomsky were laid off Thursday. Every one of Larkin High School’s administrators, including principal Rich Webb, were laid off Friday, according to Tony Sanders, district spokesman.

* The Home Depot Inc. sent a warn letter to the Texas Workforce Commission this week informing them of 68 job cuts at the company’s Home Depot Bath and Remodeling Inc. facility, located at 3010 Skyway Circle in North Irving, Texas.

Hershey, which bought Berkeley-based premium chocolate maker Scharffen Berger in 2005, announced plans this week to close the west Berkeley plant. Most of the chocolate will now be made at a Hershey plant in Robinson, Ill., which has actually been the case for some time, according to Hershey.

– Some 150 people will lose their jobs when the facility and its retail store, also in the building, close later this

* Lufkin Industries on Friday laid off 53 employees working in its Oilfield Division, according to a company spokesman.

All of the jobs are in the company’s Lufkin location. Further details about the layoffs are not being made public yet because the company is in its “quiet period,” said Paul Perez, Lufkin Industries vice president and general counsel.

* CLAY COUNTY — Wellborn Cabinet in Ashland reduced its work force Thursday by 203 employees.

These reductions will include 187 personnel from Wellborn’s main manufacturing facilities in Ashland and Lineville and 16 personnel from Wellborn’s Atkins manufacturing plant. The company will continue its operations at all three locations, albeit at a reduced production volume.

* Update: Chief Product Officer Jeff Beaver says that the Zazzle representative I spoke to earlier was misinformed, and that 28 out of 110 corporate employees were laid off, representing around 25% of the corporate office. He confirmed that 15% of the staff overall had been laid off.

* Codman Neurovascular, a neurosciences and stroke management company that’s part of Johnson & Johnson, has notified the state of plans to close its manufacturing operations in Miami Lakes’ Cordis facility and let go the 159 employees who work there.

* LIMA – A day after Ford Motor Company announced record losses, the news announced earlier in the week became official -70 workers at the Lima Engine Plant received notice they would be laid off indefinably.

* Miami-based Ocean Bank said it laid off 127 employees, or 12 percent of its work force, as part of an effort to reduce costs. The bank also reported a fourth-quarter loss of $86.7 million compared with a loss of $59.3 million a year earlier.

* The cash-strapped Museum of Contemporary Art is trimming its staff by 20% and cutting operating costs in an effort to reduce its annual expenses by approximately $4.4 million, the museum announced Friday.

* GroupM North America has laid off 93 people, or about 2.7 percent of its total staff, as the economic pall continues to pummel ad budgets.

The cuts were across-the-board, affecting all four GroupM companies — Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom, Mindshare, and Maxus — as well as corporate staff. The WPP-owned network slashed a wide range of digital and traditional positions across all accounts. Most of those let go were in New York, since GroupM operations are concentrated here. The layoffs took place yesterday and today.

* OBAMA: Cardinal hired two workers this week. With all the bad news going out there, with all the word of jobs being lost and businesses shuttered, jobs were created right here.

But now the bad economy has caught up to Cardinal Fastener. Eight workers were given pinkslips this week, after sales dropped off. Cardinal President John Grabner says the company is living another common refrain from the president.

* LECO Corporation is cutting 45 jobs in the Saint Joseph area. The company told The Herald Palladium that it’s eliminating 50 jobs around the country in response to the same economic conditions everyone else is dealing with…and the local cuts will be spread out evenly among various departments. LECO, which makes high-tech analytical instruments, also said that it will be freezing wages for 2009.

* SHELTON — Baldwin Technology Co. Inc. on Friday said it will cut about 80 employees across a range of departments before the end of this fiscal year, a result of a slowdown in demand for printing equipment.

* Responding to a decline in patient volumes, Lakeview Health System this week announced a plan to eliminate the equivalent of 30 full-time positions from its hospital and clinic operations in Stillwater.

The private nonprofit is one of the area’s largest employers, with about 1,000 people filling the equivalent of roughly 800 full-time positions.

* LSI is cutting 40 positions at its Wichita facility as part of a companywide cost-cutting move, announced this week.

LSI, based in Milpitas, Calif., has seen sales tumble in the past five months, leading executives to announce cuts to its global work force of 5 percent, and freezing wages, 401(k) contributions and pension contributions.

* Pentair Electronic Packaging is cutting 158 of the 350 jobs at its facility on Danielson Street in Poway Business Park by the end of June, a company representative said. The representative said fewer than 20 employees are being laid off effective Feb. 12, with the remaining 140 cuts possibly coming through a mix of layoffs, buyouts and attrition.

*Girard, director of operations for the Millcreek Township outpatient cancer-treatment center, has laid off seven RCC employees in recent weeks.

The employees include a nurse, a phlebotomist and workers in the center’s pharmacy, laboratory and finance office. Two other RCC employees whose positions were eliminated were transferred to other jobs at the center.

* Dow Chemical has laid off “less than 100″ of its 1,100 employees at its St. Charles Operations plant in Hahnville as part of the company’s reaction to the global recession, company officials said Friday.

* Wine mogul Jess Jackson this week unleashed sweeping job cuts across his Santa Rosa-based wine empire in response to the deepening recession and grim forecasts for the fate of high-end wines in the coming year.

Jackson Family Wines declined to discuss the scope of the layoffs, but several people familiar with the reductions estimated that around 170 employees lost their jobs in all areas of the company over the past two weeks, most on Friday.

* Silverton, which was founded in the city and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has locations in Maryland, Florida and Millville, and is one of the top employers in Cumberland County. The company declined to comment on the layoffs and its current employment Thursday.

The company had 499 employees as of October 2008, according to the Cumberland County Department of Planning and Development.

* A cooling oil market is cutting into sales and employment at Graham Corp., and the company has cut about 5 percent of its work force in response to dwindling orders and backlogs.

Prior to the layoffs earlier this month, the maker of heavy equipment for the oil refinery and petrochemical industries employed about 280 full-time workers between its Batavia operations and its Chinese subsidiary, Graham Vacuum and Heat Transfer Technology Co.

* DANBURY — Cartus, one of the city’s largest employers, said Thursday it laid off 74 employees.

Cartus released a one-paragraph statement about the layoffs, which took place in the company’s offices throughout the United States. Company officials declined to elaborate further on the move, or state how many of the affected employees work in the company’s headquarters on Apple Ridge Road.

* January 31, 2009 (Computerworld) Open-source vendor Novell Inc. on Saturday confirmed reports that it had a layoff on Friday, though it said the layoffs were small and amounted to less than 3% of its workforce.

Novell spokesman Ian Bruce said the company laid off 100 out of 4,200 employees worldwide. He declined to say if the move came in response to slumping sales at the Waltham, Mass. firm.

* Fernando Robles isn’t too concerned about economic ideology these days. All he wants is to keep his job.

But the 50-year-old bartender at Old Town State Park’s Casa de Reyes restaurant is one of about 150 employees – most of them union workers – who have been given pink slips as a new company prepares to take over the park’s largest concession.

Union leaders warned that more than 200 workers would refuse to leave the factory in the city of Waterford, southeast Ireland, until the receivers handling Waterford Wedgwood PLC’s bankruptcy proceedings reversed the closure.

* Media reports have indicated that Toyota Kiroskar Motors is laying off up to 400 contract workers, usually employed at its shop floor at its Bangalore unit in Karnataka, though the company is refusing to disclose the exact numbers.

* Electro-Motive Diesel in London will cut about two-thirds of its workforce in the next three months, shedding roughly 600 jobs, the toll even worse than was expected just weeks ago.

An official with CAW Local 27 confirmed this morning there will be three rounds of job cuts in February, March and April, and while perhaps 90 or so employees may chose an incentive package for early retirement, the rest will be laid off.

* State oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) is considering the possibility to cut 3,000 jobs after February 15, said a trade union leader who was advised of a meeting taking place between government officials and oil contractors.

* While the Lehigh Valley unemployment rate hit a 12-year high of 6.5 percent in November, Sands officials and local dignitaries celebrated the coming of 1,000 jobs they say will be created once the casino opens this year at the old Bethlehem Steel plant.

Mike: Since this blog can be a depressing read and write at times, it’s nice to have a distraction like the Super Bowl to take my thoughts away from the daily grind of our current economic condition. So allow me to focus on Super Bowl pageantry for a day.

Being a NY Giants fan, I’m a little disappointed that they folded tent so early this year. I’d like to thank Plaxico Burress for being the dumbest person in the NFL this year. To whet your appetite for Super Bowl Sunday, I’ll post some highlights from last year:

Mike: Good day. The layoff announcements continued overnight as NEC announced plans to layoff 20,000 worldwide.

Mike: I’m sure most of you are aware of Internet scams promising wealth and riches beyond your wildest dreams, but as the economy continues to falter these scams will likely get more elaborate. I receive about 10 emails a day from various countries telling me I have won thier lottery or that they need me to act as an intermediary between them and a bank, of which I receive a large commission for my help. They are entertaining to read, but many desperate and often foolish people will believe and try anything to get a chance at riches:

* Cybercriminals have launched a massive new wave of Internet-based schemes to steal personal data and carry out financial scams in an effort to take advantage of the fear and confusion created by tumbling financial markets, security specialists say.

The schemes – often involving online promotions touting fake computer virus protection, get-rich scams and funny or lurid videos – already were rising last fall when financial markets took a dive. With consumers around the world panicking, the number of scams on the Web soared.

The number of malicious programs circulating on the Internet tripled to more than 31,000 a day in mid-September, coinciding with the sudden collapse of the U.S. financial sector, according to Panda Security, an Internet security firm.

* Despite a 15 percent increase in revenues in Q4, talk around the water coolers at Verizon has been on company plans to implement job cuts at the end of March. Details of how many jobs will be cut and what divisions will take the hits are unclear, but rank-and-file employees are convinced that downsizing is coming once again.

* A week ago, Microsoft announced its first companywide layoff, letting go 1,400 people as part of a plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months. But the company made clear it would continue hiring, perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 people, in strategically important areas. And judging by its U.S. online jobs site, it intends to. A search of the site for positions in Washington state brought back 72 openings posted since Jan. 22, the day the layoffs were announced.

* WICCOPEE – The secrecy IBM Corp. has practiced about its latest job cuts – which continued to hit Dutchess County’s two plants Wednesday and may have totaled up to 900 people – has been brought to an end with a new law.

IBM made its first filing under the new New York state Worker Adjustment, Retraining and Notification law, or WARN, on Wednesday. But it covered only a part of the overall “resource actions” that were launched by IBM beginning Tuesday.

* When Gerard Baker starts his new job as The Wall Street Journal’s new deputy editor in chief next Wednesday, he’ll have a lot of names to learn. But not quite as many as if he’d started sooner.

According to multiple sources within and close to the Journal, the newsroom is due to undergo another round of personnel cuts late next week. It’s unclear exactly how many employees will be affected, but two sources put the number of people being targeted at 50.

* Many tech companies are using the global recession as a handy excuse to cut staff, according to Andy Woyzbun of Info-Tech Research Group. Also, SAP says Canadian operation affected by 3,000 worldwide retrenchments

IBM’s Markham, Ontario headquarters and it software laboratory in Toronto are the likely prime targets of world-wide workforce reductions now underway at Big Blue, according to a Canadian technology industry analyst.

Mike: Today’s economic reports (Bloomberg.com: Economic Calendar) include the following: The GDP and NAPM numbers are more closely tied to employment conditions. If GDP is shrinking then there is less output, if NAPM remians below 50, that indicates contraction in manufacturing.

* WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy shrank at a 3.8 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as the deepening recession forced consumers and businesses to throttle back spending.

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Although the initial result was better than economists expected, the figure is likely to be revised even lower in the months ahead and some believe the economy is contracting in the current quarter at an even faster pace.

Wage inflation is not a concern. The fourth-quarter employee cost index rose only 0.5 percent vs. three prior quarters of 0.7 percent increases. The year-on-year rate of 2.6 percent is the lowest on record (1982). Increases in both wages and benefits were mild at 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent. Manufacturing jobs showed especially low rates of increase which is no surprise given the severity of contraction in the sector. Attention is not on wage pressures but on jobs and on the depth of the recession.

The Chicago purchasers report offers an early view of economic conditions in January — and the results point to continuing contraction at a severe rate. The headline index fell nearly 2 points to 33.3 with order readings showing continuing and severe month-to-month contraction. Bloomberg.com: Economic Calendar.

Economic readings are beginning to flatten, that is are pointing at severe but non-accelerating rates of contraction. The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was little changed in January at severely depressed levels, at 61.2 vs. a mid-month reading of 61.9 and a December reading of 60.1. Bloomberg.com: Economic Calendar.

* WASHINGTON (AP) — They call it “stimulus” legislation, but the economic measures racing through Congress would devote tens of billions of dollars to causes that have little to do with jolting the country out of recession.

There’s $345 million for Agriculture Department computers, $650 million for TV converter boxes, $15 billion for college scholarships — worthy, perhaps, but not likely to put many Americans back to work quickly.

Yes, there are many billions of dollars in “ready-to-go” job-creating projects in President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus bill. But there are also plenty of items that are just unfinished business for Congress’ old bulls.

* NEW YORK (REUTERS) — New York City dwellers will have to cope with billions of dollars more in spending cuts and thousands of city workers could lose their jobs, under a plan the mayor is due to unveil Friday, according to a source familiar with the proposal.

More than 23,000 city workers might lose their jobs through layoffs or attrition unless Mayor Michael Bloomberg convinces the state and U.S. governments and the city’s approximately 300,000 workers to let him curb benefits, from Medicaid to pensions, said the source, who requested anonymity.

* VISTA — The city of Vista issued layoff notices to 14 workers on Wednesday, including fire and building inspectors, as it struggles to close a projected budget shortfall of more than $6 million over the next two years.

* The board voted to reduce the certified staff, like bus drivers and cafeteria workers, by approximately 160 to 180 support personnel. Approximately 140 to 150 teachers from the staff will also be cut.

* SACRAMENTO, CA – The city of Sacramento could shed as many as 500 jobs and slash city programs and services to help fill a projected $50 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, city officials said Thursday.

* Diversified U.S. industrial manufacturer Manitowoc Co Inc (MTW.N) said it was cutting about 2,100 jobs, or 22 percent of the workforce at its crane segment, due to a shrinking backlog, a day after the company posted a fourth-quarter loss.

* GenVec Inc. is the latest in a string of biotech companies to cut staff in order to slim down expenses during this harrowing economy.

The Gaithersburg company said it’s laid off 22 people, nearly 18 percent of its staff, to make its cash last for up to 18 to 24 months. The move, effective immediately, will lower GenVec’s head count to 101 people. The company will pay $260,000 in severance costs this quarter before it starts seeing savings in its operating budget.

* CLAREMORE – Only a month after Burgess Norton Manufacturing confirmed layoffs at the Claremore plant, company officials announced Tuesday that the plant would cease operations entirely in the coming months.

* A major employer in the Upper Valley has laid off about 50 employees.

The Thermadyne Corporation in Lebanon, N.H., manufactures Thermal Dynamics plasma cutting equipment. It says in January it let go of 50 salaried and hourly employees. Company officials say the cuts are a direct result of the decreasing worldwide steel market.

* Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT), a contract chip maker, said it is reducing its workforce by another 600 people, or about 8% of its staff, in response to the rapid erosion of semiconductor demand. That brings the company’s total workforce reduction since Q3 2008 to 1,300 people, or about 18% of its staff.

* Electrical construction products distributor Wesco International Inc (WCC.N) posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and said it would reduce its workforce by another 5 percent in the first quarter, sending its shares up as much as 7 percent.

* A Boston-based international law firm is laying off 10 percent of its staff because of the economic situation.

In an internal memo, Ropes & Gray’s chairman, R. Bradford Malt, announces the 106 staff layoffs, reports Above the Law. No attorney layoffs were made, and no further layoffs of either lawyers or staff are expected, he says.

*A TRW Automotive spokesman said about 60 employees at the company’s Winona facility will be without jobs by mid-May, as part of a larger reduction announced last year. Officials at RiverSide Electronics in Lewiston, Minn., also announced a “workforce reduction” Thursday.

RiverSide officials did not immediately say how many people would lose their jobs, but an employee said the company laid off 18 workers.

* Santee Print Works, located at 19 Progress Street, announced dozens of layoffs to their employees on Thursday.

“These layoffs are in response to the current economic situation and a decline in our business,” said Hope Broadway, human resources manager. “We had to lay off a significant number of employees in order to get through existing economic conditions and we are hoping for a quick economic turnaround, so that our business gets better.”

* Dana Corp. will close its McKenzie plant within six months, leaving 108 people unemployed.

The plant, which makes engine gaskets and air ducts for the automotive, heavy truck and agriculture industries, has been in Carroll County for nearly 22 years and is expected to close by the end of July, company spokesman Chuck Hartlage said.

* NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.O), the No. 1 U.S. online broker, warned on Thursday that revenues could drop as much as 20 percent this year and said it will cut between 500 and 600 jobs in the current quarter as it copes with low interest rates and a falling stock market.

* Teradyne Inc. of North Reading is cutting 532 of its 3,800 employees worldwide, and imposing a 10 percent pay cut on the rest. Teradyne employs 1,055 people in Massachusetts, but the company did not say how many local workers will be cut.

* 3M said last month it would cut at least 2,300 jobs, or about 3% of its work force. It announced 1,800 cuts in one week, saying it was urging some workers to take time off without pay or to take December vacation time. The next week it said it would cut an additional 500 jobs, and possibly more by the end of 2008. The company had already announced 1,000 layoffs in the third quarter.

* Broadcom Corp. had a net loss of $159 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, the Irvine chipmaking company said today, adding it will freeze salaries and reduce its workforce by 3% in expectation of falling sales for the first quarter of 2009.

Chief Executive Scott McGregor said about 200 jobs — 3% of employees — will be eliminated at locations around the world.

* Albemarle Corp., which reported a 14 percent slide in sales and a 77 percent drop in quarterly profits this week, plans to cut its Baton Rouge work force by 50 people, chiefly through severance packages to employees who were eligible for retirement or willing to accept buyout offers, the company said.

* BALTIMORE (AP) — Less than three years after its launch as the city’s second daily newspaper, The Baltimore Examiner is shutting down, a victim of slower-than-expected ad sales.

Employees of the free tabloid were informed of the closure Thursday morning. The Examiner will publish its last issue on Sunday, Feb. 15. About 90 people will lose their jobs, said Jim Monaghan, a spokesman for Clarity Media Group, the paper’s Denver-based parent company.

* CUBA CITY, Wis. — A company that manufactures fiberglass components for wind turbines laid off 61 full-time employees this week, shutting down operations. The office does remain open, manned by a skeleton staff.

David Lisle, president and CEO of Wausaukee Composites, personally announced the job cuts to company employees. The layoffs were effective Tuesday, and Lisle emphasized the company plans to reopen the plant.

* T3 and Springbox, two Austin-based creative agencies, have made job cuts amid a tougher business climate.

T3, one of the largest independent agencies in the country, said it had small staff cuts this week as a result of clients scaling back their advertising efforts this year. According to industry blogs, the agency is believed to have cut more than 20 employees, but a spokesperson for T3 would not confirm that number. The Austin and San Francisco offices were affected by the layoffs, according to sources.

* CAPITAL REGION — A new state law that spurred the dissolution of several self-insured group trusts has prompted their third-party administrator of workers’ compensation coverage in Latham to layoff 57 jobs in New York and Vermont.

* A. H. Belo Corporation, which owns The Dallas Morning News and three other daily newspapers, announced Friday it would cut approximately 500 jobs, or more than 14 percent of its workforce, in response to continued revenue declines.

* Chemicals maker Ferro Corp. on Friday said it will lower its quarterly dividend and expects to report a fourth-quarter loss and reduced 2009 outlook, driven by a sharp decline in customer demand across multiple segments.

* Shaw Industries has announced plans to shut down its carpet manufacturing operations in Milledgeville. The company said in a statement Tuesday that 150 employees will lose their jobs. Shaw said plant operations will cease in mid-February. Al Scruggs, a company spokesman, blames the closing on a severe downturn in economic conditions, especially the housing industry.

* Electro Scientific Industries Inc., which makes laser equipment used in electronics manufacturing, announced lower third-quarter revenue than anticipated and said it would lay off another 12 percent of its employees in the current quarter.

* CRANSTON – Today was a sad day for WJAR-TV NBC Channel 10, because 10 “highly valued” employees were laid off due to economic conditions, according to Lisa G. Churchville, the station’s president and general manager. More local layoffs are expected in March.

* COLEBROOKDALE — Officials at the Cabot Supermetals plant on County Line Road today announced that the firm is closing the metal powder facility at the plant. Officials confirmed the layoff of 25 percent of the local Cabot work force — a total of 32 workers.

* TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Nordam Group Inc., an aerospace manufacture and repair company, has laid off 87 more workers.

Company executives cited the downturn in the business jet market while announcing the latest layoffs on Friday. In the last three months, Nordam has laid off 211 people, or 11.5% of its work force in Tulsa.

* TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp. said it will cut 20,000 workers worldwide as it tries to stanch widening losses from semiconductors and other businesses that have been hard hit by competition and the global economic slump.

The company hopes the job cuts, which will be split equally between Japan and overseas, will help save 80 billion yen over the next two years.

* Barge operator Kirby Corp (KEX.N) said on Thursday it will cut jobs and reduce its fleet size as it seeks to reduce costs to counter slackening demand, a day after it posted weak fourth-quarter results.

* TOKYO (AP) — The pain of Japan’s recession is spreading from the factory floor to the living room, as December figures showed companies slashed output at a record pace, the jobless rate surged and household spending fell sharply.

Industrial production at the nation’s manufacturers plunged 9.6 percent in November, the largest drop since Tokyo began measuring such data in 1953, the government said Friday. A survey predicted further declines of 9.1 percent in January and 4.7 percent in February.

* The Grupo Nación, publishers of the daily La Nación, Al Día, La Teja and Vuelta en U, yesterday announced an austerity plan that will see the layoff of some 100 people in various departments, including magazines like SOSHO, Perfil and radio programs like Los 40 Principales and Bésame.

* Jan 30 (Reuters) – British telecommunications service provider KCom Group Plc (KCOM.L) plans to cut 150 more jobs at its Integration & Managed Services business amid falling revenue, but said its nine-month profit rose from last year as overall trading improved.

* A Wells Fargo & Co. spokesman has confirmed the company has hired a third party in the Birmingham area to help hire temporary workers and sources familiar with the situation say the jobs could add up to 1,000.

Mike: Today’s job loss was not as bad as the rest of the week was. At some point the job loss news has to improve and let’s hopeit’s soon. Also, if you know of any job loss announcements or rumors of pending layoffs that I may have missed, post them in the comments section or send me an email at LayoffList@gmail.com. Your privacy will be respected.

With Super Bowl weekend upon us, let’s end the week with a little entertainment:

Mike: A couple readers have asked if I can add layoff rumors or announcements that miss the general news media reports. I’d be glad to offer that option, but I’ll need your input to make that happen. If you know of any layoff news or rumors that you would like posted, feel free to either place them in the comments section or email me at LayoffList@gmail.com and I’ll be sure that all reasonable requests are posted. Your privacy will be respected and I won’t share any email address information. Thanks.

Mike: Good day to all. The morning is starting out a little gloomy with the up to 4500 layoff announcement at Eastman Kodak. That once proud company is now a shell of its former glory and could fade from the landscape entirely at a not to distant point.

Mike: There are more people paying attention to actual unemployment numbers, which are considered much higher than those reported by the government. I have argued for the past few months (see, The Real Unemployment Numbers,The Real Layoff Numbers – Weekend Update) that the government needs to report numbers that reflect reality, instead of numbers that reflect delusion. The following report is another that agrees with the notion that actual unemployment is reaching levels up to 18%:

* True Unemployment Rate May Be Twice The Government Numbers

The official unemployment rate may also be dramatically inaccurate based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics method of calculation. Consider the chart below from Shadowstats.com.

– If the government was still calculating the unemployment rate using the same criteria and methods that had last been used during the Clinton administration, the “official” unemployment rate today would be closer to 18%.

* Sources close to eWeek report that layoffs will continue at IBM. The technology firm has cut 2,800 employees from its roster already, and that number is expected to climb. The cuts have come from both IBM’s software and sales divisions.

* ROCHESTER, MN (KTTC-TV) — KTTC has confirmed that significant numbers of layoffs have happened at the Rochester IBM plant. The “resource actions” had been scheduled by the computer firm for days, and had been the source of anxiety for many workers whose personnel reviews had been set for this week.

An inside source tells the NewsCenter the number is as many as 800. Most of the cuts happened in the Systems and Technology Group. The Rochester Chamber of Commerce says about 4,400 people work inside the sprawling IBM complex along U.S. 52 in northwest Rochester.

* Update: In another sign of the deepening recession, the Commerce Department said Thursday that new orders for durable goods dropped by 2.6 percent last month, even worse than the 2 percent decline economists expected. Orders fell 5.7 percent for the year, the second biggest drop on government records, exceeded only by a 10.7 percent plunge in 2001.

* Update: The tally of Americans filing new jobless benefit claims rose slightly to a seasonally adjusted 588,000 last week, from a downwardly revised figure of 585,000 the previous week. That also was worse than analysts’ forecast of 575,000 new claims.

The number of initial claims is close to the 26-year high of 589,000 reached in late December, though the work force has grown by about half since then.

The four-week average of initial claims, which smooths out fluctuations, rose to 542,500, from 518,250, according to the government report.

* WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time record, the government said Thursday, and more layoffs are spreading throughout the economy.

The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted 4.78 million, the highest on records dating back to 1967. That’s an increase of 159,000 from the previous week and worse than economists’ expectations of 4.65 million.

* Update: Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell in December to the lowest level on record after banks tightened lending and job losses mounted.

Purchases dropped a more-than-forecast 15 percent to an annual pace of 331,000, the lowest level since at least 1963, according to a report from the Commerce Department today in Washington. Other reports showed orders for durable goods slumped for a fifth month and a record number of Americans were collecting jobless benefits.

* Three city unions that refused to give up their 2009 pay raises might instead lose a week’s pay under new budget cuts announced yesterday by Columbus officials.

Mayor Michael B. Coleman said up to 1,300 city employees, including himself and other nonunion managers, will face five-day “temporary layoffs” in the coming months — unpaid days off that will save an estimated $1.65 million.

Mike: A. Perez continues to drive this company into the ground, yet he continues to tap the till for $ 9,478,434.00 (2007) via Antonio M. Perez Profile – Forbes.com. Failure is an option for Perez types, since win or lose they still score big.

* The Rochester, N.Y.-based photo products maker said the job cuts include 2,000 to 3,000 positions that were announced in late 2008.

“The second half of 2008 will go down in history as one of the most challenging periods we have seen in decades,” said Antonio M. Perez, chairman and CEO. “We built significant momentum following the completion of our corporate transformation, and our business results were on track through most of 2008, with digital revenue up 10% in the first half of the year, following double-digit growth in the second-half of 2007.

* Many Kodak employees are talking about the news of job cuts and fourth quarter loss announced today. News 10NBC was outside Kodak headquarters when some employees were leaving. At least two people said they will find out tomorrow whether they’ll still have a job or not.

One woman said 160 out of 800 people will be let go tomorrow in one department that’s 20 percent of the department. Some said the only saving grace is the termination package Kodak is offering.

* AstraZeneca said it will expand its restructuring program to save $2.95 billion annually by 2013, with the bulk of the savings coming by 2010. The company previously forecast savings of $1.98 billion. The program will lead to additional job cuts of 7,400, taking the total to 15,000 by 2013.

* Ford Motor Credit, the lending and financing arm of Ford Motor Co., will cut about 20% of its U.S. staff, or about 1,200 jobs, as part of a restructuring plan announced in meetings with employees Wednesday.

* Delta Apparel Inc. will shutter its textile manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, N.C., and consolidate the jobs to plants in North Carolina and Honduras.

The move will cut 107 jobs, the Duluth, Ga.-based clothing company said. The Fayetteville campus will continue to employ 550 associates in sewing, screen printing, retail packaging, distribution, and product and art development, along with all sales and administrative functions for M. J. Soffe.

* In response to economic conditions, Morrison & Foerster has announced that it is is laying off more than 200 people.

The firm confirmed today that the layoffs include 53 attorneys and 148 staff members, reports Above the Law. According to the law firm’s website, MoFo has more than 1,000 attorneys in 17 offices worldwide.

* NEW YORK — ESPN’s top executive told employees that he’s instituting a hiring freeze and won’t give any raises to top executives as one of television’s most successful enterprises feels the effect of the economy.

ESPN and ABC Sports chief George Bodenheimer said he expected 200 jobs will be cut within the next year, mostly positions currently unfilled.

* The Los Angeles Opera announced Tuesday that it had laid off 17 employees, representing 17 percent of its staff, The Los Angeles Times reported. The company said it was imposing pay cuts of around 6 percent for its remaining staff, though some higher-paid employees received an 8 percent cut.

* FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The last major apparel maker in a North Carolina county says it will shut down a fabric manufacturing division and move some of the work to Honduras to save money.

The Fayetteville Observer reported Thursday the decision will cut 107 jobs at the M.J. Soffe plant in Cumberland County by June. About 550 jobs will remain at Soffe’s plant on U.S. 301 in Fayetteville.

* Marlborough, MA-based Sepracor announced that it plans to cut 530 company jobs and another 410 contract positions as it refocuses its marketing activities. The layoffs, which will claim about one in five jobs at the company, were prompted by the economic crisis that has roiled the biotech industry.

* Canada’s Isotechnika has already announced that it’s pursuing partnerships, merger deals, asset sales and other “strategic alternatives.” And in a release this morning, the developer is adding layoffs and other unspecified budget-cutting moves.

“Since the timeline for completion of any strategic alternative is unknown, the company must reduce its cash burn rate,” says Isotechnika in a release. Just how many people it plans to terminate or lay off temporarily was not spelled out in the release.

* Home decor merchant Plow and Hearth reportedly laid off at least 45 workers in two rounds last week. And according to a report from Madison County, VA, news television station NBC29, more job cuts are expected at the cataloger.

But parent company 1-800-Flowers.com would not confirm the job loss specifics. When contacted, spokesperson Joe Pititto referred to a statement 1-800-Flowers.com had prepared on Monday:

* NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.O) will cut between 500 and 600 jobs in the current quarter as the biggest U.S. online broker, under pressure from low interest rates and a falling stock market, struggles to contain costs.

* Boston Store parent The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., a retailer with significant corporate operations in Milwaukee, said it will cut 1,150 jobs and suspend its 401(k) plan contributions in an initiative to boost operating income by $70 million a year.

* Business credit-card company Advanta said Thursday that it lost $43.8 million in the fourth quarter largely because of credit losses, and that it would cut its dividends and expenses, including jobs and marketing.

The Spring House, Pa., company (NASDAQ:ADVNA) said it “will have approximately 300 fewer employees and operating expenses for 2009 are expected to be between 20 percent and 25 percent lower than those reported for 2008.”

* SAN JOSE, Calif. — Hit hard by the IC downturn, Japan’s Toshiba Corp. outlined several cost-cutting moves, including plans to delay two NAND flash fabs. The company also reduced its capital spending and will cut 4,500 temporary workers.

Toshiba (Tokyo) is delaying the construction of a fab in Yokkaichi from spring of this year until 2010. The company is postponing building another fab in Kitakami, based in northern Japan. Last year, Toshiba and its partner, SanDisk Corp., announced the fabs, which were geared for NAND flash production.

* The Disney-ABC Television Group today laid off several hundred people, citing the weakening economy. Group President Anne Sweeney sent an e-mail to the approximately 7,000 television group employees, saying that after months of trying to adjust the business to the worsening economic climate, “we’re now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas.”

* Cessna Aircraft Co. said Thursday it plans to lay off another 2,000 workers, or about 13 percent of its work force, as the slumping worldwide economy is forcing more customers to cancel or delay orders for new aircraft.

* Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett USA said it will lay off 250 people, almost 15 percent of its workforce. Ugly, really ugly… But firing people is the way of life now. The Advertising agency claimed that the layoffs were only partly a response to the recession and partly, it said, an effort to “better position” the company in a rapidly changing industry. In other words, because they have to change their definition of the term “Advertising”. Even Arc Worldwide has hit with the layoffs. Leo Burnett is owned by Publicis Groupe.

* Jan 29 (Reuters) – U.S. trucking company Arkansas Best Corp (ABFS.O) swung to a quarterly loss, hurt by decelerating tonnage levels and competitive pricing pressures, and said it shed about 1,100 jobs in the fourth quarter.

* SunPower, San Jose’s leading solar company, announced layoffs this morning.

“I can confirm that SunPower has made a small reduction in its worldwide workforce — approximately 60 out of 5,000,” Stephen Wright, the company’s director of corporate communications, said in an email.

* RENO, Nev.—International Game Technology, the world’s largest maker of slot machines and casino management systems, announced Thursday it will lay off an additional 200 workers as the recession takes a deepening toll on the casino industry.

* Ultratech (UTEK) this morning posted Q4 sales of $34.1 million, up from $29.7 million a year ago, but below the Street consensus of $35.8 million. Profits for the quarter were 17 cents a share, 3 cents better than estimates…………..

The semiconcudcor equipment company also said it is cutting staff by 9% and reducing salaries for most employees by 5%-20%.

* Union Station Kansas City Inc. has cut $4.8 million from its cost structure in response to the tough economy, in part by eliminating more than 40 full- and part-time employees and continuing last year’s wage freeze in 2009.

* Thirty eight textile companies have closed shop in Nigeria, just as government is yet to redeem its pledge to bailout the ailing sector, General Secretary of the National Union of Textile Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) Comrade Issa Aremu has said.

* BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Belgian-French financial services group Dexia (DEXI.BR)(DEXI.PA) is set to announce 700-800 job cuts for this year and a sharp reduction of bonuses, Belgian daily De Standaard said on Thursday.

* While Frederick County Workforce Services has been “tremendously busy” helping the growing pool of job-seekers in the wake of increasing layoffs, a few employers — especially in health care, life sciences and security — are hiring, said director Laurie Holden.

“Believe it or not, there are still jobs out there,” Holden said. “There are just a lot more competition for those jobs.”

Holden’s agency held a job fair last week where employers including Frederick Memorial Hospital and e-EndUSA, a Frederick electronics recycling company, tried to find suitable candidates amid the roughly 300 job-seekers who attended. Employers also included Admiral Security Services, State Farm Insurance, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Cianbro and SAIC-Frederick.

Mike: Good day to all. The news at the start of the day is gloomy for many who have lost jobs at SAP,DuPont,Molex and other locations. But if you have money in the stock market, you can be thankful this morning as it appears that there is great optimism for the upcoming US stimulus vote. I’m not sure why the excitement, but it’s a bit of good news for a change.

Mike; If anyone knows of layoffs that I haven’t posted, feel free to drop me a note and I’ll make sure they are recognized.

* ESSEX JUNCTION — At Five Corners Variety in Essex Junction, down the road from IBM’s microelectronics plant, Heidi Clark said she worried the company’s latest round of layoffs would hurt the liquor store’s business.

“It all trickles down,” said Clark, an employee at the store. “If people can’t find jobs locally, they don’t shop here.”

Granted, each round of layoffs usually brings a day of good business to the store. One man bought a bottle Tuesday to celebrate keeping his job at IBM, Clark said.

* ROCHESTER, MN (KTTC-TV) — KTTC has confirmed that significant numbers of layoffs have happened at the Rochester IBM plant. The “resource actions” had been scheduled by the computer firm for days, and had been the source of anxiety for many workers whose personnel reviews had been set for this week.

An inside source tells the NewsCenter the number is around 800, or about 18 percent of the workforce. Most of the cuts happened in the Systems and Technology Group. The Rochester Chamber of Commerce says about 4,400 people work inside the sprawling IBM complex along U.S. 52 in northwest Rochester.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s purchase applications index fell 2.9 percent to 294.3 in the holiday shortened week of Jan. 23. The refinance index dropped 48 percent to 3,373.9. These numbers bounce around quite a bit especially in shortened weeks. The most interesting numbers in the report are mortgage rates led by the 30-year fixed rate which remains stubbornly above 5 percent, at an average 5.22 percent for a 2 basis point decline in the week.

* Update: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve, acknowledging the economy has continued to deteriorate, signaled Wednesday that it will keep using unconventional tools to cushion the fallout, including keeping a key interest rate at a record low for quite “some time.”

Specifically, the Fed said it is “prepared” to buy longer-term Treasury securities if the circumstances warrant such action. At its December meeting, the Fed said it was merely evaluating that option. Such a move could help drive down mortgage rates and provide help to the stricken housing market, economists said.

* Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Eastman Kodak Co., fresh from a $3.4 billion, four-year restructuring that cut its workforce in half, may announce a second shake-up amid a continuing drop in sales.

“To see any sort of meaningful turnaround, they have to get costs way more in line with their peers,” Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Erik Kolb said in an interview. “That means cutting jobs, cutting anything wherever they can.”

There is something hilariously ballsy about Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain trying to excuse spending $1 million to redecorate his office (including the now infamous $87k rug) by saying “It was over a year ago,” as if in 2007-2008 no one had an inkling that our markets were about to melt and therefore it was totally acceptable to spend more money than most people make in a lifetime on a room where you spend less than 25% of your time in.

* WASHINGTON – Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week.

If the change happens, that doesn’t necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.

* The combination of a nationwide recession and a state budget deadlock is forcing the county of Ventura to eliminate the equivalent of 71 full-time positions, bringing the total number of jobs cut in the past few months to more than 120.

* The New Jersey Turnpike Authority will cut 80 positions in 2009 and maintain a hiring and promotional freeze, according to the operating budget approved this morning by the agency’s board of commissioners.

* But a troubling and unpredictable economic climate means that SAP, like many other companies inside and outside of high tech, will continue tightening its belt. SAP said Wednesday that it plans to trim its worldwide workforce by about 3,000 positions by the end of 2009, from 51,500 down to 48,500 jobs.

SAP said that the job cuts, at least some of which it expects to come through attrition, will lead to annual savings of 300 million to 350 million euros starting in 2010.

* The company lowered its full-year earnings estimate for 2009 to $2 to $2.50 a share, down from its previous guidance of $2.25 to $2.75 a share. It also announced that it would cut 8,000 contractors from its work force.

* Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Avery Dennison Corp., the world’s largest label maker, said it will eliminate about 10 percent of its workforce, or about 3,600 jobs, after reporting its first sales decline in 12 quarters.

The cuts will cost about $120 million, most of which will be booked in 2009, the Pasadena, California-based company said today in a statement. The sticker-maker said it will save $150 million annually over the next two years once the cuts are implemented.

* Tuesday, Avery Dennison Corporation (AVY: News ), reported a drop in profit for the fourth quarter as net sales came down more than 11% during the three-month period. Additionally, the company also revealed restructuring actions to reduce its global workforce by 10%.

* The restructuring moves will reduce 2,500 jobs in the March quarter, the company said in a conference call, in addition to 5,600 layoffs in the December quarter and an expansion of the 1,200 job cuts announced earlier this month.

* A cookware supplier is closing its city store, with the loss of four jobs.

– ProCook, which supplies both top brand and its own ProCook brand cookware and electrical appliances for the kitchen, is closing 18 of its stores nationwide, including its Norwich shop in Chapelfield shopping centre

* Honda Motor Co. Ltd. on Tuesday disclosed its fourth North American production cut in three months, part of a continued effort to align its vehicle inventory with slumping consumer demand.

The automaker, which recently opened a plant in Greensburg, Ind., said it will cut 29,000 vehicles from its plan at all North American plants for the remainder of its fiscal year, which ends March 31. That reduction includes 14,000 fewer cars and light trucks assembled at Honda’s Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio, plants.

Spokesman Ron Lietzke said the cuts will be accomplished by a mix of reduced daily output and temporarily idled assembly lines.

* Boeing which posted a loss in the fourth quarter, said Thursday it will reduce its workforce by 6% or 10,000 positions.

CEO Jim McNerney, speaking on a fourth-quarter earnings conference call, said the positions will be eliminated “through a combination of attrition, retirements and reductions. Fundamentally, this is a solid company with a strong growing core business. “[But] the global economy continues to weaken and is adversely affecting air traffic growth and financing.”

* Let the penny pinching commence! Merrill Lynch’s training program took a hit yesterday as many of its trainees were shown the door.

A Merrill Lynch spokesperson confirmed the layoffs, but could not provide details about the number of trainees let go. In general, trainees who had been generating revenue for fewer than 24 months and did not meet certain production thresholds were told to take a hike.

* GREENVILLE (AP) — Two eastern North Carolina newspapers say declining business conditions will force them to eliminate a total of 28 jobs.

The Daily Reflector of Greenville said it will eliminate 23 positions across its 232-member staff, except for the circulation department. The Rocky Mount Telegram said it would eliminate five positions on its staff of 49 people.

* The moves come as GM and Chrysler are racing to get concessions from labor and other stakeholders as required under the terms of the $17.4 billion federal rescue of the two companies.

The 1,600 UAW workers in GM’s jobs bank will be placed on layoff and must apply for unemployment. Between a mixture of unemployment and company pay, they will then receive about 72% of their normal compensation, GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said.

* In further signs that the deepening recession is having a major impact on Jewish universities and institutions, two major seminaries here announced tuition freezes and budget cuts, the city’s largest Jewish cultural institution laid off nearly 10 percent of its staff and Brandeis University is taking the highly unusual step of selling off its prized contemporary art collection.

“This is one of the more challenging moments in recent history,” Jewish Theological Seminary Chancellor Arnold Eisen told The Jewish Week.

* General Shale Brick announced today that they will be laying off 50 people this Friday.

We first told you about this news story July 19. The layoffs from General Shale’s Johnson City plant were originally slated to occur Sept. 15, but the company was able to hold on to the employees until this week.

* The American Civil Liberties Union, impacted by the unfolding economic crisis, laid off ten percent of its national workforce this week. Thirty-six staffers lost their jobs, including five in the Washington, D.C. legislative office, a source familiar with the firings told the Huffington Post.

* NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – AOL will cut about 700 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, as the Internet services and media company struggles with an advertising downturn and recession, according to an internal memo circulated to employees on Wednesday.

* West Liberty Foods announced this week it is not immuned to the recession. The processing plant announced Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, it will be laying off approximately 75 workers from the West Liberty plant, effective Monday, Feb. 9, 2009.

* Through layoffs and reduced hiring, Norfolk Southern Corp. has cut 758 train and service jobs since April, and 100 additional workers will lose their jobs over the next month, said Stephen Tobias, the company’s vice chairman and chief operating officer, during a conference call with analysts today.

* Revel Entertainment laid off 400 workers today and said it would stop interior work on the one new casino project in Atlantic City that hadn’t yet fallen victim to the economic crisis and the credit crunch.

* Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, will cut 1,000 jobs after the falling value of investments caused the company’s first annual loss as a public firm. Shares dropped 11 percent in extended trading.

* In a Form 8-K, Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq: SWKS) today committed to a restructuring plan to realign its costs given current business conditions. The Plan reduces global headcount by approximately 4%, or 150 employees, primarily affecting RF transceiver development.

* In response to the on-going global economic slowdown and resulting changes in demand requirements from customers, Jabil (NYSE: JBL) plans to cut its manufacturing capacity in certain geographies and to shrink its worldwide workforce of 85,000 by approximately 3,000. Jabil said the restructuring will appropriately align its manufacturing sites with the Company’s current customer demand outlook and increase operational efficiencies. Approximately ten global plant sites will be impacted, and approximately ten percent of the headcount reductions will take place in the United States.

* Saint Clare’s Hospital has announced a financial restructuring to reduce costs and improve productivity that will include 180 job cuts, including 100 people to be laid off today, hospital officials said this afternoon.

* TOKYO—Panasonic Corp. said Wednesday it will cut 560 jobs in Asia due to the closure of two plants in the region, while declining to confirm a report saying the Japanese electronics giant will likely suffer its first net loss in six years.

* Itella, a state-owned enterprise previously known as Finland Post, said in a statement Wednesday it would start a round of statutory cooperation procedure talks with the aim of cutting about 85 jobs.

* Those looking for work may want to help the government gather information for the 2010 Census.

The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking temporary part- or full-time workers who can be relied upon to compile information about area residents, either by traveling door-to-door or through phone work. The pay: between $11 and $15 per hour — or closer to $20 an hour if you become a supervisor.

* LANSING — The state will hire an additional 276 workers — more than double the current staff– to handle an avalanche of unemployment claims, and beef up Internet capacity to speed up the filing process and ease the crunch on the overwhelmed system, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Wednesday.

Mike: The large layoffs announcements waitedfor the afternoon to arrive. Tens of thousands again lost their livlihoods, but the stimulus package came closer to being approved, which hopefully leads to some robust job creation. Let’s end this hectic day with a couple of laughs. Till tomorrow ………….

Mike: Let’s hope Tuesday is a lighter layoff day than Monday turned out to be. Still plenty of earnings and economic reports to sway the market and the layoff announcements. There have been a few large layoff announcements this AM starting with Corning cutting 3500 and Ashland laying off 1300.

Outrage of the day: So the taxpayer pays to give retention pay to the same people that drove the company into the ground, which resulted in them having to beg the taxpayer for a bailout. Instead of being investigated, they are treated with kid gloves and buckets of taxpayer cash. Nice work if you can get it:

* Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc., the insurer that nearly collapsed because of losses on credit- default swaps, offered about $450 million in retention pay to employees of the unit that sold the derivatives, according to two people familiar with the situation.

About 400 workers at the financial products unit may get the money in two installments, said the people, who declined to be named because the payments were confidential. The business was responsible for about $34 billion in writedowns since 2007 as the market value of swaps AIG sold to banks plunged amid the subprime mortgage market collapse.

* Citigroup, which received funding from last year’s taxpayer bailout, canceled their plans to buy a $50 million executive jet after the news drew disapproval from President Obama.

A Citigroup spokesman said Tuesday that the beleagured bank had no intention of accepting the jet.

Citigroup ordered the jet in 2005, when the company had cash to spare, and was set to receive it this year. The bank originally said canceling the sale would mean that it would have to pay millions of dollars in penalties.

A White House spokesman told Reuters Tuesday that President Obama did not believe “that’s the best use of money” by a company receiving money from last year’s bailout.

* Layoffs at IBM’s microelectronics plant in Essex Junction are under way, but it is unclear how many jobs will be cut.

According to an IBM employee who asked to remain anonymous said this morning, “I just received a call from my manager,” said the IBM employee, who works on the manufacturing segment of the local plant. “They performed a resource action … my personal job wasn’t affected, but others in my department were.”

Microsoft was pouring research-and-development funds into its Entertainment and Devices Division at an accelerated pace in the months prior to announcing last week’s layoffs, according to the company’s latest regulatory filing. The numbers may explain why that division appears to have been hit hardest by the cutbacks. They also show how abrupt the company’s financial pullback has been.

* Update: The ICSC-Goldman Sachs survey reported that sales were down 2.4% year-over-year last week, compared to a -1.8% print in the prior report.

“Despite the modestly positive sales influences which came from sales over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the presidential inauguration kept consumers home watching television coverage rather than in stores,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the ICSC.

* Update: Johnson Redbook retail survey, which recorded a 2.3% decline in the week compared to the same period last year, the same pace of decline as lr.ast week’s report. In addition, sales to date in January fell back 2.6% compared to December.

* Update: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices plunged a record 18.2 percent in November from a year earlier as the country’s housing market remains in the throes of a deep recession, according to an index from Standard & Poor’s.

Prices in 20 metropolitan areas tracked by S&P fell 2.2 percent from October as housing continues to suffer from a huge supply of unsold homes, tighter lending standards and record foreclosures.

* Update: NEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumer confidence fell to a record low in January as a downtrodden housing sector and worsening job prospects kept the country in a somber mood.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its sentiment index fell to 37.7 from a revised 38.6 in December, confounding forecasts for a small uptick.

“Consumers remain quite pessimistic about the state of the economy,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Research Center. “Until we begin to see considerable improvements in the expectations index, we can’t say the worst of times are behind us.”

* As bad as the economic outlook was in the latest National Association for Business Economics survey, it likely would be much worse if the survey were conducted this week, said Robert Premus, Wright State University economics professor.

The NABE survey released Monday, Jan. 26, was conducted between Dec. 17 and Jan. 8. It depicts the worst business conditions since the survey began in 1982.

“We’re in for quite a serious downturn,” said Premus, who predicts an economic crisis unrivaled during the lives of the Baby Boomers and subsequent generations. “It’s really just beginning.”

* MONROE, N.C. — The sheriff in a North Carolina county is warning that layoffs of deputies could mean a slower response time in emergencies.

Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey and the county commissioners would meet Tuesday to discuss the county’s $15 million budget shortfall due to the slumping economy, The Enquirer-Journal of Monroe reported.

County officials laid off 40 employees Friday and commissioners proposed laying off 11 deputies in the sheriff’s department.

* NEW YORK (Reuters) – Specialty glass maker Corning Inc (GLW.N) said its quarterly profit fell sharply due to a significant decline in demand for glass for televisions and computer monitors, and said it would cut about 3,500 jobs.

* The specialty glass maker Corning said Tuesday that its quarterly profit fell sharply because of a significant decline in demand for glass for televisions and computer monitors and that it would cut about 3,500 jobs.

* PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Chainsaw and yard care product maker Blount International Inc. on Monday said it will permanently close its plant in Milan, Tenn., by the end of June, eliminating nearly 100 jobs.

* GROVELAND | The dire economic situation that is forcing business closures across the country has hit home in South Lake County with the closing of a distribution center for a major retailing chain that is putting more than 100 people out of work.

* Animal pharmaceutical and health care product company Virbac Corp. is closing its manufacturing facilities at 3200 Meacham Blvd. in Fort Worth — a decision that will result in the layoff off 44 employees, the company confirmed in a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission.

* Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oil field services company, began cutting nearly 4 percent of its global work force today as lower oil and gas prices dampen demand for drilling and other services it provides.

The Houston-based company started laying off 1,500 of its 40,000 employees in a process that will likely stretch over a couple of weeks, said Gary Flaharty, the company’s director of investor relations.

* Movie rental set-top box maker Vudu has laid off 15 percent of its staff, we confirmed this afternoon. This brings the current Vudu employee headcount to roughly 50 people. Dave Zatz gave us a heads up, and we received the following statement from a Vudu spokesperson:

* Another round of layoffs is on the way for two Waterville plants run by Johns Manville. One of the plants is located on Dutch Road and the other on River Road.

Nearly 100 employees at Johns Manville are preparing for indefinite layoffs set to begin on April first. We are told a majority of those cut will come from inside plant seven on Dutch Road were they make microfiber which is turned into fiberglass mats for roofing shingles

* Breedlove Guitar Co., the Bend-based guitar and mandolin manufacturer, cut five jobs, or 10 percent of its staff, last week, said Connie Hensley-Jones, controller. Breedlove, which makes 15,000 instruments annually and sells to customers around the world, is projecting flat sales in the U.S. this year, Hensley-Jones said. Forty-six workers remain, she said.

* Gevity HR said Tuesday that it is laying off about 10 percent of its staff as part of cost reduction measures aimed at saving the company approximately $19 million.

The Bradenton-based company, which provides payroll and human resources outsourcing services for about 6,000 client companies around the country, had 781 people on staff, according to Yahoo’s Finance site. Company officials said they would provide more details on layoffs and staffing later in the day.

* Yanagawa of South Carolina Inc. has announced the temporary layoffs of the majority of its employees. The layoffs, which will affect 145 of the company’s 176 employees, will go into effect on March 2 and last through June 30 of this year, company officials said

The second largest U.S. retailer said Tuesday that it will cut 1,500 jobs, most of them at its Minneapolis headquarters. The company started to notify workers of the cuts Tuesday, although the number of jobs affected is not yet known.

* On Thursday, one of the customers of E.K. Machines announced a cutback in its operations.

Officials at E.K. Machines then announced layoffs Thursday and Friday of about seven part-time employees who were in training. Errthum said the layoffs are temporary, but it’s impossible to know for sure how long they will last.

* It’s a waiting game for 140 employees at Weyerhaeuser’s oriented strandboard mill in Edson, AB. The company handed out 60-day notices to all hourly union employees at the facility, indicating they might find themselves without a job in two months.

A report by the Edson Leader confirmed that while the notices won’t necessarily result in layoffs, they have employees on edge.

* Of all the cost-saving measures announced by major U.S. publishers in past weeks, those at HarperCollins have until now been relatively mild. However, this morning, the company presented a voluntary retirement package to its U.S. employees, raising the possibility of future layoffs. According toPublishers Lunch, the offer applies only to employees over the age of 55 who have been with the company for more than five years, and for now does not affect Canadian workers:

* Basilea Pharmaceutica is adding jobs in Europe and subtracting staffers in the U.S. as the developer positions itself to the conflicting regulatory responses it faces for a key new antibiotic. With a European approval likely for ceftobiprole, Basilea says it will add 100 jobs primarily in the EU to begin commercialization. But jobs in the U.S. are being cut after the FDA delayed an approval for the antibiotic.

* DEERFIELD–United Stationers Inc. Tuesday announced the layoff of 250 employees — or 4 percent of its workforce — as it “adjusts its cost structure in response to the challenging economic environment.”

About half of the positions eliminated will occur this week, according to a release from the Deerfield-based company.

* Electrical products and tool maker Cooper Industries Ltd. (CBE: News ), Tuesday reported a slump in fourth quarter profit on charges related to job cuts and impairment related to investments. Cooper said it has doubled its workforce-reduction to more than 2,200, from the previously announced layoff of 1,000 employees, due to deepening deterioration in the economy. Cooper also provided first quarter and full-year 2009 estimates, expected to come in below current Street estimates.

* The near-term outlook has become so poor that Valero, a company which prides itself on avoiding layoffs, raised the possibility of scaling back its contractor workforce to cut spending. Valero is also trying to reduce its full- time workforce by combining redundant positions and offering early retirement or severance packages to employees.

“That process continues, especially in light of the reduction in capital projects we have announced,” said Day. The company does not have a specific target for workforce reduction, Day added.

A 10% cut to the company’s 5,000 contractors could provide a significant cost reduction on the order of $50 million a year, and is currently being considered, the company said.

* Best Buy Co. Inc., said Tuesday it will resort to involuntary layoffs at corporate headquarters, even though 500 workers agreed to voluntary layoffs earlier this month.

The Richfield-based retailer told corporate workers in an e-mail and in meetings Tuesday that an unknown number of employees will be laid off on Feb. 19. The laid off workers will remain employed with the company for 30 days, and will get a less generous severance package than those who volunteered to leave.

* WOODBRIDGE — The future of the prestigious 61-year-old Woodbridge Country Club is in doubt as more than a dozen staff members were let go Monday, and the owners plan to file for bankruptcy due to a multimillion-dollar debt, a board member confirmed Monday.

* The Division of Athletics and Recreation laid off seven full-time employees and three staff members have applied for the voluntary severance package offered by DU, saving the division $665,000 per year, according to Dan Van Ackeren, chief financial officer of Athletics and Recreation.

Thus far at least 111 staff employees have left DU under the severance and lay off initiatives instituted in November.

* At least 10 Gaston County residents were among 171 complaints sent to the Better Business Bureau after L.A. Weight Loss Center abruptly closed 10 locations in the Charlotte area last month, according to BBB spokeswoman Janet Hart.

* As part of its effort to get back on track financially, Crystal Cathedral laid off an unknown number of staff last week, including the church’s executive pastor and the pastor of its Hispanic ministry.

* Russell Investments, downtown Tacoma’s largest private employer, will cut about one out of five jobs worldwide this year as part of a cost-cutting drive, the company said today in a statement on its Web site.

The statement cited the “global financial environment,” noting that “Russell is not immune to the changed environment and is actively taking steps to reduce expenses.”

Russell has 1,100 employees in Tacoma and another 1,000 employees in 20 offices across the globe, a spokeswoman confirmed, so the layoff will affect more than 400 employees.

* A Rowan County company that transports newly-made trucks plans to lay off up to 100 workers by March 16, anticipating a dropoff in business from the nearby Freightliner plant, according to a notice filed with the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Auto Truck Transport of Cleveland said the cutbacks are necessary because Daimler Trucks North America – Freightliner’s parent company – plans to cut heavy truck production at its Cleveland plant by 50 percent this spring.

* Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said it will halt production at its Normal, Illinois, factory for 12 weeks, 5 weeks more than initially planned, to help dealers cut inventory as U.S. auto sales slow.

* Several Plano ISD employees will lose their jobs under a plan to reduce the district’s multimillion dollar budget deficit.

School board members voted last week to approve a reduction in force that’s estimated to save Plano ISD $1.5 million. Under the plan, the layoff would target employees in two departments: elementary advanced academic services and library/media services.

* LONDON (ICIS news)–Clariant on Tuesday said it planned to cut 1,000 jobs to reduce costs during the downturn as the Swiss specialty chemicals company reported a 5% drop in sales for the full year 2008.

* Clariant also said it would axe additional thousand jobs, mainly in the SG&A area, to substantially decrease personnel costs. This is in addition to the about 2,200 job cuts announced in 2006 and almost completed by the end of 2008. The clear focus of the company would be on cash generation in 2009.

* AMSTERDAM, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Amsterdam airport operator Schiphol Group [SCHP.UL] said on Tuesday it would cut 10 to 25 percent of its 2,200 workforce as a result of a strong decline in traffic and increased international competition.

* SingleSource Property Solutions will lease just over 30,000 square feet of space at the Southpointe office park in Washington County with plans to add up to 50 staff members.

In February the company will move into the space at the Stealth Technology Center, at 333 Technology Dr., from its current headquarters in Upper St. Clair. The move will result in a doubling of the company’s headquarters space.

* With our unemployment number the highest it’s been in several decades, thousands of Nevadans are desperately searching for jobs.

But there is some good news on the job front: the U.S. Census Bureau is looking to hire hundreds of temporary workers here in southern Nevada. News 3’s Maria Silva has more on the recruiting efforts and why the census count is so important to Nevada.

Mike: This was actually a better day than yesterday, but there were still a number of large layoff announcements, including Corning and Target. It would be a good sign if the improvement continues throughout the week. We can hope anyway. Until tomorrow, I’ll leave you with a laugh……..

Mike: This week is shaping up to be tough for job losses as Caterpillar, ING Group, Sprint,Pfizer,Home Depot, Philips , and Texas Instruments have already announced thousands of job cuts today. This is also a big week for economic reports and those readings will indicate if the recession is getting worse, or if it is slowly improving. The majority seem to think that the readings will reflect a weakening economy.

* Somebody was working this weekend to make sure thousands of other people didn’t.

US companies announced they’re cutting 45,000 jobs by 9 am Eastern Time on Monday morning, even before the US stock market opened, according to a quick count by Raw Story.

* When the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company reports earnings Tuesday, “it might not be a disaster,” says Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay. But the company’s fourth-quarter profit is expected to be down from last year, due mainly to an anemic online advertising market. That’s where Yahoo! gleans most of its revenue.

ADOTAS — Yahoo will be releasing its Q4 results tomorrow, with analysts expecting a revenue and profit drop.

While Yahoo’s search will still be strong, display advertising, its main business, is expected to show the biggest dip. Despite massive layoffs, ‘giddy like school girls’ investors will want more cost cutting and a clear plan to win back market share from Google and others. It’s unlikely that they will get that tomorrow.

The firings took place in the sales and distribution unit, according to a copy of a Jan. 21 separation agreement sent by Lee Conrad, national coordinator for the Alliance for IBM. The organization, which is seeking union recognition at IBM, said similar cuts probably were made at the company’s software unit.

Mike: Both reports came in better than expected, but with caveats: Home prices plunged, which is great if you’re buying but bad if you’re selling or trying to get a home equity loan. The LEI number was better only because the fed pumped more money into the system.

* Update: NEW YORK (AP) — A flood of federal bailout money pushed a private research group’s monthly forecast of economic activity unexpectedly higher in December, while a decline in home prices boosted housing sales.

– Existing home sales rose 6.5 percent in December to an annual rate of 4.74 million units, as the median home sales price plunged 15.3 percent to $175,400 from $207,000 a year ago. The decline is the largest year-over-year drop in records going back to 1968.

– If the jump in the money supply had been excluded, the index would have dropped a hefty 0.6 percent in December, said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y.

With most components falling steeply, the Conference Board said unemployment could rise to 9 percent from 7.2 percent as the country remains in an intense recession through spring.

* Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — More U.S. companies project they’ll pare staff in the next six months as pessimism mounts the economy will contract this year, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics.

The poll’s net employment reading fell to a minus 22 this month, the lowest level since 2001, from minus 15 in the previous survey in October, the report showed today. More than three- fourths of the participants forecast the economy will shrink this year, twice as many as in the last survey.

* Raleigh | The number of North Carolina workers who want a job but can’t find one remains at an all-time high, with nearly 400,000 of the state’s residents out of work, according to statistics released Friday.

The jobless rate hit 8.7 percent in December – the highest level since the recession of the early 1980s, when the rate reached 9 percent in June 1983. The national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent, marking the 11th straight month North Carolina’s rate was above the national average, according to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina.

* For the second time in five years, the state Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is set to go broke – big time broke.

The fund that pays benefits of up to $450 a week to the jobless sank into the red for the first time in its 60-year history in 2004. California borrowed $214 million from the federal government to continue paying benefits.

* The gusher of venture funds that flowed into the biotech field thinned significantly in the fourth quarter of last year. With risk-taking out of fashion, VC investments plunged 33 percent in the last three months of 2008. And biotech investing dropped 31 percent, according to a report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters.

* BOSTON — For the people who put together budgets that oversee everything from police patrols to garbage collection to schools, this will be a momentous week.

Gov. Deval Patrick has a Wednesday deadline to file two documents that could reverberate in local government circles for years.

He must file a plan to close a $1.1 billion budget shortfall this fiscal year — something he has said will include $128 million in midyear cuts to local aid. He also will file a proposed budget for fiscal 2010 on Wednesday, with even deeper cuts — $375 million — to cities and towns.

The job cuts, equal to 5.4 percent of the workforce, are part of a plan to reduce operating expenses by 1 billion euros this year, Amsterdam-based ING said today in a statement distributed by Hugin. Supervisory board Chairman Jan Hommen, a former chief financial officer at Royal Philips Electronics NV, will succeed the 56-year-old Tilmant.

* PARIS — In the latest wave of retrenchment by global banks, ING Group, the Dutch financial services company, said Monday that it would cut 7,000 jobs this year and that its chief executive would step down as it seeks government guarantees for toxic mortgage debt.

* Philips, the Dutch consumer electronics and medical giant, announced plans today to cut 6,000 jobs worldwide this year after reporting its first quarterly loss for almost six years.

The company suffered a net loss of €186 million (£176 million) for 2008 after a fourth quarter loss of €1.47 billion, partly because of a writedown in the value of its Lumileds diode light unit. In 2007, it reported a net profit of €4.16 billion.

Gerard Kleisterlee, the president and chief executive, said that the fourth-quarter losses, the first quarterly loss since the first quarter of 2003, reflected “the unprecedented speed and ferocity with which the economy softened in 2008″.

* NEW YORK (AP) — Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, will pay $68 billion for rival Wyeth in a move that will consolidate two of the industry’s largest drug developers.

The deal comes as Pfizer’s profit takes a brutal hit from a $2.3 billion legal settlement over allegations it marketed certain products off-label, or for indications they are not yet approved. The New York-based company is also cutting 10 percent of its work force, slashing its dividend, and reducing the number of manufacturing sites.

* Pfizer will acquire rival Wyeth for $68 billion, the companies said Monday.

The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal.

Pfizer also said it would cut more than 8,000 jobs to cut costs in anticipation of cholesterol drug Lipitor losing patent protection in 2011. Pfizer said it would cut 10 percent of its staff and close five of its manufacturing plants but did not specify which ones.

* Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical has begun trimming its budget — including laying off staff — in anticipation of cuts to its state funding.

Despite increasing enrollment, largely because laid-off workers are attending the school, the school eliminated six positions, which accounts for about 2 percent of its workforce, said Southeast Tech President Jim Johnson

* Healthcare firm Intercytex Group Plc (ICX.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it would cut about half of its 76 staff in the UK and the United States, and halt new projects to save cash, sending its shares down as much as 36 percent.

* Sprint Nextel will cut 8,000 jobs as the company seeks to preserve cash among growing customer losses.

Additional moves reportedly being considering include shifting thousands more Sprint workers to other companies in outsourcing contracts, but the company didn’t make any announcements on that point Monday.

*Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp. said it will eliminate shifts in the second quarter at plants in Ohio and Michigan, eliminating about 2,000 jobs, and cut production at 13 other plants in the U.S. and Canada as U.S. sales drop further.

The Detroit automaker, which already closed most of its 22 plants in North American this month because of slow sales, is taking the additional steps into next quarter after GM cut its estimate for U.S. sales this year to 10.5 million, GM spokesman Chris Lee said. The automaker doesn’t have an estimate yet of total vehicle production cut.

* Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc. will cut 107 jobs and discontinue the development of its Trizytek drug efforts due to “financial constraints” and a desire to focus on the company’s growth-hormone research.

* Cabinet manufacturer Merillat will lay off 70 employees at the Culpeper facility today — more than 20 percent of the plant’s workforce — as direct result of the poor economy, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

* He said layoffs should help offset falling sales somewhat, but added in a client note that “given the severity of the slowdown, lack of visibility as well as risk of increase in customer delinquencies … we are taking a more cautious view and stepping to the sidelines.”

* The plant’s 600 employees have felt the pressure of downsizing. There have been about 40 layoffs in the last three months, said union chairman Fred Cotraccia. Those layoffs were due to the sluggish economy, Martynec said. He said it’s too soon to say whether there will be more layoffs.

* FairPoint Communications Inc. (FRP) confirmed today it has laid off 56 people, or less than 1.5 percent of its workforce.

Employees across the country – from Washington state to Maine – were affected by last week’s layoffs, said Rose Cummings, vice president of corporate communications for FairPoint. Only legacy markets were affected, not the landline regions FairPoint bought from Verizon Communications Inc. in early 2007 for $2.3 billion.

* BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Aerospace and industrial component maker Barnes Group Inc. said Monday it has sold one business and is cutting output and laying off staff in two of its remaining segments to achieve annual savings of about $40 million.

Barnes, which also is freezing the pay of its salaried workers, did not disclose the number of staffers being laid off. Last year, the company reduced its payroll by about 800 to some 5,700.

* Texas Instruments Inc. will lay off 1,800 workers and offer buyouts to an additional 1,600 to cut costs amid a brutal drop in demand for the chips it makes.

Word of the cuts, which will reduce the Dallas-based company’s headcount by 12 percent, came along with news that one-time charges had pushed fourth-quarter profits to just $107 million or 8 cents a share.

* News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media digital division is laying off about 5% of its work force, or about 100 people, amid continued cost-cutting efforts, according to a person familiar with the situation.

* LAPORTE — Another company in our area announced layoffs Monday. Aero Metals in LaPorte said economic challenges forced it to cut more than 80 part-time and full-time employees. The company’s CEO hopes the cuts are temporary.

“There have been a couple of times that I thought it was pretty bad,” said Jim Fleming, CEO of the company. “But this one takes the cake.”

Fleming says 81 full- and part-time workers were eliminated, a move he hopes is temporary.

* Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oil field services company, began cutting nearly 4 percent of its global work force today as lower oil and gas prices dampen demand for drilling and other services it provides.

The Houston-based company started laying off 1,500 of its 40,000 employees in a process that will likely stretch over a couple of weeks, said Gary Flaharty, the company’s director of investor relations.

* Thousands of Japanese car workers will soon draw part of their pay from the government under a scheme to prevent redundancies at companies hit by production cuts.

Mazda and Mitsubishi Motors, respectively Japan’s fifth and sixth biggest carmakers, have applied for the employment adjustment grants, according to industry officials, and others may follow soon.

The grants are available to struggling manufacturers of all types but the particularly sharp downturn in the car sector, combined with a recent expansion of the programme, has made carmakers eligible for large levels of support.

* Jan 26 (Reuters) – Non-woven fabric maker Fiberweb Plc (FWEB.L) said on Monday it would cut about 150 jobs, close a loss-making plant, cease production at another and lower spunbond production to reduce costs as it restructures its European operations.

Mike: Monday was a brutal day for layoffs. I think this is the worst job loss day that I have posted over the last two months. Hopefully the news gets alittle better as the week progrsees. On that optimistic note, let’s end today with a laugh………..

* SAI called IBM earlier this week about the reports, and was told the company doesn’t comment on “speculation.”

But at least one spokesman in IBM Canada has finally gone on the record.

itbusiness.ca: IBM Canada spokesman Mike Boden confirmed on Friday to CDN that a round of layoffs is underway at IBM, including at IBM Canada. According to Boden, no exact numbers on the scope of the cuts are being released at this time.

* IBM Canada spokesman Mike Boden confirmed on Friday to ITBusiness.ca that a round of global layoffs is underway at IBM, including at IBM Canada. According to Boden, no exact numbers on the scope of the cuts are being released at this time.

“We’re not releasing numbers by site,” said Boden. “There’s no single area being targeted. As part of ongoing business operations at IBM we’re trying to manage the resources and skills we have so we’re ready and able to meet current and future client needs.”

* Lee Conrad, a former IBM employee who now is national coordinator of Endicott, N.Y.-based Alliance@IBM, said the layoffs currently appear to be happening primarily in two IBM units: its software group, and its sales and distribution operations. But Conrad said he expects the cuts to spread to other units in the coming weeks……..

Unlike Microsoft, Sun and other technology vendors that have announced layoffs recently, IBM is being reticent about describing its workforce actions and the reasons for them. “We are not going to discuss specific numbers or locations,” IBM spokesman Doug Shelton said in a statement, adding that company officials expect some of the affected workers to find other jobs within IBM and that they’re “helping them with that effort.”

Microsoft is trying to ease the blow of layoffs to 1,400 people who were notified today. Their job responsibilities end Friday and, according to a WARN notice filed with the state, their layoff will be official on March 23. “The adjustments announced today impact Microsoft’s global operations, so employee Notification and the last day for individuals outside of the US will vary based on local laws,” a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

In a letter made public today, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa addresses Microsoft’s layoffs and asks CEO Steve Ballmer to give Americans preference over foreign guest workers brought to the country under the H-1B visa program.

The unprecedented layoffs and other cutbacks announced yesterday by Microsoft haven’t appeased Wall Street. Microsoft shares are down more than 6 percent since the news came out, and some analysts assert that the company needed to go much further.

“We believe the negative stock reaction may have had more to do with a head-fake regarding expense control than the weak results,” JP Morgan analyst John DiFucci wrote. “Management discussed the need to concentrate on running the organization more efficiently through expense reductions, but net/net, there were none. Operating expenses will increase in the second half from a year ago.”

Mike: It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that if you are making $300 a week in unemployment benefits, you aren’t going to be able to afford family health insurance at a cost of $800 – $1000 a month. If any readers of this blog have had difficult times paying for health care while laid off, please post them to the comments section. I’d like to start a campaign to send to our clueless leaders that keeping health insurance when laid off is difficult for all and impossible for many.

* Only about one in 10 workers who lose their job opt to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance through the safety-net program COBRA, most likely because the premiums are too expensive, according to an analysis released Friday by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports independent research on health care issues.

Experts worry that the highest unemployment rate in 16 years, combined with a health care system dependent on employer-sponsored health insurance, is a recipe for disaster, and will swell the ranks of the uninsured particularly if people aren’t using COBRA. About 46 million people in the United States (18 percent of those under 65) lacked health insurance in 2007.

Mike: The following shows how the $350 bailout was used and abused by those seeking its safety. As stated below, it’s doubtful that congress will do anything about these corrupt thieves, since they are so intertwined with their lobbiest brethren.

No wonder John Thain was sacked. On the surface it appears that he and his management were ‘hiding’ or at best unaware of enormous losses that were only revealed after they were purchased by the Bank of America, and the recipient of enormous amounts of government funds.

-And to make matters worse, they continued to pay themselves huge salaries and bonuses for the year despite those losses.

It will be interesting to see if there is any meaningful investigation of this. We doubt it very much. The Democratic leadership have shown themselves to be a lot of noise and little meaningful action so far, and almost all the Republicans are outrageous hypocrites. Such is the state of the deep capture of the government.

* Another big round of layoffs is expected at Starbucks, possibly 1,000 people — a third of its headquarters employees — and some district managers and field employees, according to an e-mail sent to a stock brokerage’s customers Friday.

“The cuts might be next week or in February,” wrote Diane Daggatt, a managing director at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle.

* Thousands of restaurant workers could face layoffs in coming months, according to a recent survey of restaurant owners.

More than half of restaurant owners and managers who responded to a recent Washington Restaurant Association member survey said they expect to lay off staff in the first half of 2009. With 13,000 restaurants in Washington, the number of laid-off restaurant workers could easily exceed 6,900, the trade group’s Chief Executive Officer Anthony Anton said.

* The unemployment rate in California soared to 9.3 percent last month – its highest point in 15 years – as construction firms, hotels, restaurants, casinos and amusement parks laid off workers in response to the widening recession.

Mike: Hopefully this is a trend that catches on with other hospitals, especially since so many no longer have health insurance.

* YORK, Maine — In what could be the first of its kind in the country, a new York Hospital program offers patients an opportunity to receive health care and pay for it over time without interest.

The new “10 to Spend” program targets patients who, beginning Jan. 1, have to meet a new set of deductibles before their health insurance kicks in. Patients who receive services at the hospital between Jan. 1 and April 1 will be able to spread out payments at no interest over a 10-month period.

* SACRAMENTO, CA – Sacramento County has a $42.3 million mid-year budget shortfall. One of the options to be proposed to the Board of Supervisors next month is $8.8 million worth of cuts to a variety Health and Human Services and Probation departments. If those cuts are approved, 198 employees will be out of jobs.

* Oakley Union Elementary School District officials had been hoping to avoid layoffs but are now saying that will be nearly impossible as the district faces a projected $2.9 million deficit for 2009-10.

District Superintendent Rick Rogers said the state’s proposed five-day reduction of the school year and the elimination of class-size reduction rewards would probably force the district to lay off classified and certificated employees.

* SANTA CRUZ — County services, from public health to road maintenance, are expected to take their biggest hits in years as county administrators anticipate a 20 percent reduction in spending over the next year and a half, including some 250 layoffs.

Head NV Group, the parent company of the Head and Penn sports brands, is closing its tennis ball factory in Phoenix and moving those operations to China.

The factory will close in March, with 143 workers being fired. The Netherlands-based sports company has produced tennis balls in China since 2007 and continues to build that manufacturing presence. The company reported the layoffs to the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

* The Bay City area recently has seen the closing or announced closing of Andrews Fine Jewelers, at the Bay City Mall, and the Ruby Tuesday restaurant at 3898 State St., in Bangor Township.

Other announced closures include the Hampton 5 movie theater in Hampton Township, the Memory Lane scrapbook store and Elite Repeat clothing shop in downtown Bay City and the Rivard’s Home Furnishing store in Kawkawlin Township.

Many business owners blame economic times that have reduced customers and cash flow needed to continue operating.

“If I could look ahead and thought I could ride it out, I would,” said Gary Colopy, owner of the Heart of Ireland retail store at 914 Washington Ave. “I think it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”

* Glenncoe is a 160-truck carrier primarily serving B.C., Alberta and the Pacific Northwest U.S. truckload markets. A market impact study recently confirmed the regional economy is weakening rapidly and cast doubt whether there was enough business to sustain the carrier over the next few years.

Business in the Pacific market Glenncoe concentrated on is drying up, fleet owner says.

“We’re profitable at this point, but the long range will not be if we continue. So we decided to shut down properly and orderly,” Coe explains in an interview with todaystrucking.com. “The long-term does not look viable. This is a business decision and we have to do what’s right by our people.

* Profits are up but traffic volume is down, so a lot of employees are being laid off by the Burlington Northern Sanfa Fe railroad – including 101 in Lincoln and 68 in Alliance…..

The railroad began layoffs about two weeks ago. On Wednesday, BNSF said it would layoff some 2,500 workers nationwide, representing 5 percent of its work force. BNSF said it has approximately 4,500 employees in Nebraska, including more than 1,800 in Lincoln, and 1,700 in Alliance.

Mike: The following announcement was posted earleir in the week, but due to it’s significance with food poisoning, I thought it wise to post again:

* The South Georgia peanut butter plant linked to the national outbreak of salmonella has laid off most of its approximately 50 workers, a company spokesman said Friday.

Federal health officials have said the Peanut Corp. of America’s plant in Blakely is considered the sole source of the salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 480 people in 43 states and may have contributed to six deaths.

* Dartmouth College lost about 18 percent of its endowment when the stock market went south. The college implemented a hiring freeze and about 70 employees accepted early retirement. But that wasn’t enough. Thursday, the Ivy League school announced additional job cuts cannot be avoided. School officials are not yet saying how many jobs will be cut, or when the layoffs will occur.

* BROOMFIELD – Two months after announcing plans to slash up to 18 percent of its work force, Sun Microsystems Inc. this week made the first round of cuts, giving layoff notifications to 1,300 employees, 195 of whom work locally.

* Bank of New York Mellon Corp. began laying off an undisclosed number of workers in Pittsburgh this week, part of a previously reported plan to let go 1,800 employees worldwide in 2009, a spokesman confirmed Friday.

* Besser International manufactures concrete pipe machinery. Between 20 and 30 people have been laid off from the Sioux City plant in the past few months, about 25% of the workforce. A company representative says they expect more cuts in the near future.

In Yankton, South Dakota, Sapa Extrusions laid off 40 to 45 employees, about 15% of its workforce. The company’s general manager says orders at its aluminum extrusion plant are at historic lows.

* GARDEN GROVE – Crystal Cathedral’s executive pastor, who was brought on board by the church’s former senior pastor Robert A. Schuller, was let go this week because of financial issues, church administrators said.

* RANTOUL – One hundred employees at Eagle Wings Industries in Rantoul will be laid off for two months, beginning Jan. 30, a company official said.

The layoff at the auto parts supplier is related to production at Mitsubishi Motors in Normal, which accounts for “a large percentage of our business,” said Lynette Brokate, Eagle Wings’ human resources supervisor.

* The Stanford Graduate School of Business is implementing across-the-board cuts and reducing its workforce by about 12 percent, the Stanford Daily reports. The GSB predicts a $15 million shortfall, 10 percent of its total budget. Forty-nine staffers were laid off, eight were put on a reduced schedule, and 12 temporary positions were eliminated. Other expenses—such as travel, food, library services, printing, and marketing—were cut off.

Major layoffs at Universal Music Group on Friday. People from every department were axed (there were a few departments spared, it seems, though). From what I can tell, most of the major imprints were hit (IDJ, Universal Records).

* KVII-TV, citing a poor economic environment, eliminated several positions Friday. The layoffs at the Amarillo television station are part of a broader work force reduction by Barrington Broadcasting, the Illinois-based parent company of the local ABC affiliate.

* SAN FRANCISCO-AMB Property Corp. on Friday said it will lay off 22% of its global workforce as part of an effort to reduce its cost structure “in a difficult global economic environment.” AMB is an industrial REIT that develops properties for sale to third parties or funds. The company employed 716 people at the end of September, 200 more than it employed at the start of the year. The layoffs are the first in the company’s history.

* Caterpillar is in the process of laying off 140 workers from its Oswego Township plant, a union representative confirmed Friday.

The eliminated positions run across the spectrum of Caterpillar’s hourly employees, covering a wide variety of jobs, according to Jim Steele, bargaining chairman for United Auto Workers 145, based in Montgomery. Local 145 has approximately 2,050 workers in the plant located off Route 31 near Aurora, Steele said.

* ThyssenKrupp AG will delay the opening of its stainless steel operation at Calvert for about a year, until October 2010, stalling construction spending as part of a companywide effort to save cash in the global economic recession.

* ROLAND, Okla. (AP) – About 220 people are expected to lose their job in the small eastern Oklahoma community of Roland as an Ohio-based door manufacturer announces plans to close its facility there.

Therma-Tru Corp. designs and produces residential fiberglass and steel exterior door systems. The company announced it will phase down production and ultimately close the Roland plant, effective Sept. 30.

* SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Ten days after cutting its Sioux Falls work force in half, Hutchinson Technology Inc. said Friday it is closing the plant and laying off the remaining 300 employees over the next three months.

* HARDIN COUNTY — Akebono Brake Corp. reportedly laid off about 25 percent of its work force Friday as the brake parts manufacturer continued its staff downsizing at the Elizabethtown plant.

Carl Lay, Akebono’s Elizabethtown’s general manager of administration, did not return four phone messages left at his office and home or respond to an e-mail seeking comment. An e-mail to Laura Sullivan with Akebono North America went unanswered as well.

But worker Beverly Lacefield said she was called Friday and given the grim news.

* As the UK officially falls into recession, it’s not a question of how many jobs will go in the regional newspaper industry, it’s more a case of how many will survive. Today, staff at DMGT-owned Northcliffe Media’s Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post were told the company is considering cutting 45 of its 154 editorial jobs from the two titles as part of plans to create single content and production desks for the papers, according to the NUJ. Sharing resources is a popular way to maximise resources for newspapers right now and is at the heart of proposed cuts at Newsquest’s Glasgow titles and Trinity Mirror’s Birmingham and South Wales centres.

* • We are proposing to reduce the costs of our head offices, subject to consultation with staff, with the loss of up to 450 jobs, representing around 15% of our head offices headcount.

• We will be making changes to the Marks & Spencer Final Salary Pension scheme by capping employees’ annual increases in pensionable pay to 1%iv and changing the early retirement benefits for members who joined the scheme before 1996.

* Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — Linklaters LLP, the second-largest London law firm by revenue, will cut the number of lawyers at the firm as the economic crisis slows its business.

The worsening economic crisis and its effects on key clients means that reductions are necessary, said Sarah Peters, a firm spokeswoman. The Lawyer magazine reported today that Linklaters will cut as many as 70 partners and 10 percent of its salaried lawyers, citing people familiar with the plan.

Drivers, assistants, warehouse workers and customer services staff at the iconic brand’s South Wales distribution centre face losing their jobs after the 127-year-old company struck a deal with another brewer, Scottish and Newcastle.

* MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Reuters) – The number of unemployed Russians rose to 6 million in December compared to 5 million in November as an economic downturn hit home, the head of the federal employment service Yuri Gertsiy said on Saturday.

Gertsiy said data calculated according to World Labour Organisation rules showed unemployment was much higher than the 1.5 million Russians who have officially registered as being out of work after six months of financial crisis.

As many big companies are announcing mass layoffs, these 20 top employers have at least 350 openings each right now. Which Best Companies to Work For are doing the most recruiting and what kind of candidates are they looking for?